


17

by astraielle, ghoulaesthetics (astraielle)



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-28
Updated: 2019-05-28
Packaged: 2020-03-20 14:56:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18994894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astraielle/pseuds/astraielle, https://archiveofourown.org/users/astraielle/pseuds/ghoulaesthetics
Summary: Bull cracks his eyelids open, pulled from the edge of sleep by the sound of Isen’s voice. She hasn’t stopped tracing shapes and patterns on his skin since they settled down for the night.





	17

**Author's Note:**

> prompt - kiss on the jaw

“Seventeen.” 

“Hm?”

Bull cracks his eyelids open, pulled from the edge of sleep by the sound of Isen’s voice. She hasn’t stopped tracing shapes and patterns on his skin since they settled down for the night. 

Normally, Bull isn’t the first to get sleepy–he’s not usually the one being wrung out over and over again, after all.

 Tonight’s not so usual though. The Chargers have been away at the edge of the Western Approach for the last few weeks, and he doesn’t have to think twice about whether or not it was possible to miss someone for such a short amount of time. And even though she assured him she would be perfectly content if they waited until the morning to get reacquainted, Bull had no desire to put off touching her even one more night, sleep be damned–an arrangement she was  _also_  quite content with. 

“Seventeen new scars since I saw you last. I counted,” she clarified. “Or, well, future scars once they heal over completely, I guess.” 

Bull’s lips twitched. “You keep track of that crap?” 

“Of course.” Isen rises up slightly from where she was propping her head up with her hand. The other hand that’s been tracing shapes on his chest goes flat against his ribcage as she leans over and presses a trail of soft kisses from just below his ear to the corner to his mouth. “And your beard’s gotten a bit longer too,” she giggles.

“That’s a gimme,” he says, chuckling.

“It could be.” She grins, and he can feel it radiating off of her without even looking. “I can base that observation off of sight alone, or I could be doing it off of how my thighs feel now–both very reliable measures.” 

“That’s some pretty definite evidence,” he agrees. “Seriously though–seventeen?”

“Mhm.” She kisses him again, and then twice more for good measure. Bull basks under the attention and soft touches. 

“Oh, sure, I might not be trained in instant observation like you are–” 

Bull snorts. 

“But I pay attention. And I like looking at you.” 

She pulls back, face hovering over his. Her red hair falls in a curtain of soft waves around them, further obscuring any leftover light that was flickering from the oil lamp at the bedside. He reaches up and gently cups her face, thumb sweeping the curve of the scar that ran along her cheek and jaw before getting the rest of his fingers caught in her hair. The kiss is slow and deep, and he takes it upon himself to mirror what she’d done earlier, breaking it off only to leave a trail of much shorter kisses that start at her mouth and end off near the base of her ear. She laughs softly tilts her head just so when he decides to move down her neck instead. 

“Suprised there’s no comment to go with that number.” 

“Oh? What kind of comment?” 

“You know,” he makes a half-assed attempt at a shrug, something that doesn’t quite work out while he’s laying on his back and his hands are otherwise occupied. “Most people would launch into a lecture about taking care of myself, coming back in one piece, no parts missing, that kind of crap.” 

She hums thoughtfully. “I could,” she agrees. “But knowing how you fight and what sort of person you are–” 

She interrupts herself mid-sentence to lean over and press her lips against the gnarled scar tissue just above his empty eye socket. She sounds impossibly fond, because of course she does, because she’s made it very clear what exactly she thinks of him both inside and out. 

“I’ve come to the conclusion that missing parts aren’t really a top concern of mine.”

There’s a short list of things he misses about not having his other eye, and being able to roll both at once is on the list. 

“Sure you aren’t just saying that?” He teases. “Not trying to stroke my ego or anything?” 

“Absolutely not. Are you sure  _you_  aren’t trying to bait me into waxing poetic about how enamoured I am with you?”  _Kiss_. “How I could spend all day, every day, looking at you for the rest of my life and never find a single flaw?”  _Kiss_. “Or that every time I remember how sharp your mind is and how kind your heart is–and yes, the eye is a testament to that–I catch myself absolutely  _swooning_  like a heroine in a cheap romance novel?”  _Kiss_. “Is that it? Hm? Is that what you’re trying to extort out of me?” She’s scarcely able to contain her grin by the end of her speech. “Because you’ll have to work harder than that, you know.” 

He’s laughing by the end of it all, unable to defend himself against the onslaught of kisses that land across his face. “Who me? Not at all.” 

“Good, because it’s a very long list, and I would make sure you heard the entire thing instead of sleeping. Anyway, the point is–as long as I’m not looking at your casket, I’m probably going to keep counting and staring.” 

Bull considers this. “In that case, guess you wouldn’t find it weird if I told you I knew that you burned yourself in the kitchen again while I was gone, would you?” 

Isen groans and hides her face against his neck, like she had hoped he wouldn’t bring up the embarrassing oval-shaped burns on her wrist where she’d clearly dropped a still-hot cooling rack on herself. “Can’t you just let me pretend like I’m a competent adult who isn’t in a constant battle with cookware?” she mutters. “Or keep rolling with my obvious-and-very-sweet flirting?”

“Sorry, let me try again,” he chuckles. “In that case, guess I can’t go on about how much I love the way your eyes light up whenever you figure out the solution to something that’s been bugging you.” He reaches over and tilts her face up towards his. There’s a faint glow on her cheeks when he first kisses her. “Or how you look so damn good after a fight I can’t think of anything else the rest of the day?”  _Kiss_. “Won’t say anything about how much I like seeing you happy when you get a chance to relax with everyone, how you only smile like that when you think no one else is paying attention.”  _Kiss._  “How’s that,  _Kadan_? Did I play the game right this time?” 

Isen laughs, winding her arms around his neck and pulling herself close. 

“Executed perfectly, Love. Ten out of ten.” 


End file.
